When working with assemblies of biological material, such as animal tissue, assemblies of cultured animal cells, plant tissue, assemblies of cultured plant cells or assemblies of plant embryogenic mass, it is commonplace that dispersion of such assemblies is desired.
For instance, when culturing mammalian cells in suspension culture, the cells often adhere to each other forming spherical clusters, dispersion of which is necessary when passaging the culture. Examples of cells forming spherical clusters in suspension culture include HEK293 cells, embryonic stem cells and neuronal stem cells.
Also when initiating a primary cell culture from a tissue sample, gentle dispersion of the tissue is often called for.
Known methods for dispersing assemblies of biological material include enzyme treatments and various mechanical dispersion methods. One dispersion device is disclosed in PCT/US09/39981.
In cases that the recovery of viable cells from the assemblies of biological material is desired, it is especially important that the method of dispersion be sufficiently gentle to not to damage the cells too much. In many cases, it is of interest to be able to control the degree of dispersion.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a device and a method of gentle dispersion of assemblies of biological material, such as animal tissue, assemblies cultured animal cells, plant tissue, assemblies of cultured plant cells or assemblies of plant embryogenic mass. An advantage of the device and the method is that the degree of dispersion is controllable.